LITHUANIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
(artistic director and principal conductor Modestas Pitrėnas)
KAUNAS STATE CHOIR
(artistic director Robertas Šervenikas)
Soloists: GUNTA GELGOTĖ (soprano), NERIJUS MASEVIČIUS (bass-baritone), EGIDIJUS ALIŠAUSKAS (birbynė), JURGITA MIKALAUSKIENĖ (soprano)
Conductor ROBERTAS ŠERVENIKAS
VINCAS KUDIRKA – Tautiška giesmė (National Anthem)
KRISTINA VASILIAUSKAITĖ – Sinfonietta: 3rd and 4th mvts.
DOMINYKAS DIGIMAS – Premiere of a new work (LNPhS’ commission)
ANATOLIJUS ŠENDEROVAS – Omnes simul for orchestra
ONUTĖ NARBUTAITĖ – Atsklanda (Opening), Karaliaus pasveikinimas (Spring: Royal Welcome), Lukiškių pavasaris (Spring: Spring at Lukiškės) from the oratorio Skiautinys mano miestui (Centones meae urbi)
LITHUANIAN FOLK SONGS Leliumai, Už ežero ugnys dega (arrangements by Reiko Füting)
STASYS ŠIMKUS – Lietuviais esame mes gimę (We are Born Lithuanians) (lyrics by Jurgis Zauerveinas)
The long-standing tradition of solemnly commemorating the prominent national holiday of February 16th at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall, where the greatest Lithuanian creators and performers gather, is being carried on. The Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and the Kaunas State Choir, which have been collaborating for decades, invite to festive concerts with soloists to discover new works by Lithuanian composers, remember Lithuanian classics, and enjoy the most beautiful works by our composers.
This year, February 16th features a new opus commissioned by the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society written by composer Dominykas Digimas. This young composer is known for his widely acclaimed and award-winning work, the taxophone opera Dalykai, kurių neišdrįsau pasakyti, ir dabar jau per vėlu (Things I Didn’t Dare to Say, and Now It’s Too Late), staged at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. In 2024, his work Hights, commissioned by the Thomas Mann Festival, was premiered. The composer actively participates in projects of various genres, is active in interdisciplinary projects and is one of the founders of the contemporary music ensemble Synaesthesis. In his new work, Aušros choras (Dawn Choir), the composer combines several ideas: the ‘choirs’ of birds awakening at dawn, the reminder of the newspaper Aušra (Auszra/Dawn), which in times past roused national consciousness, and a word that currently has negative connotations, but which should not divide, but rather unite everyone in a common choir.
The festive soundscape will also be enhanced by the voices of singers Gunta Gelgotė and Nerijus Masevičius, as well as the mysterious sounds of Egidijus Ališauskas’ birbynė (a traditional Lithuanian wind instrument), which will be featured in excerpts from one of Onutė Narbutaitė’s most amazing opuses, Centones meae urbi (A Patchwork for My City), dedicated to her native Vilnius. The composer was awarded the Lithuanian National Culture and Arts Prize for this work. According to the composer, this oratorio is “an attempt to create a vision of a city that no longer exists in reality. However, through the rather intimate nature of the music, I wanted to say that the past is a tangible and live part of our experience, the source of our life. In this sense, the oratorio, while being very documentary in nature, also touches on the completely universal themes of human life and death.”
Patron of the concert – His Excellency Gitanas Nausėda, President of the Republic of Lithuania
